Apple has released iOS 7 Gold Master (GM), right after the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c launch. The GM is already the final version for release. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see any more outward changes. Unfortunately because I was still hoping for changes to those fugly icons. But the good news is that iOS 7 is good to go!
Now that Apple has announced the iPhone 5S, it’s time for a side-by-side for comparison against the previous iPhone 5 and the de facto Android flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S4.
The first question is, is it an upgrade over the iPhone 5? The answer is yes, specifically in the processor, the camera, and Touch ID. Apple’s “S” releases are normally minor updates. So this is actually significant. Apple obviously is feeling the competitive pressure.
The next question is how does it fare against the Galaxy S4? By the numbers you would see that Galaxy S4 would win. But most numbers don’t matter much (e.g. processor speed, and megapixel count) without context. So I won’t even go into the 64-bit (although really that is significant). Numbers are nothing compared to the experience.
I’d say you can’t go wrong with either iPhone 5S or Samsung Galaxy S4. Personally, I’d go for the iPhone 5S due to four reasons: design (understated elegance), the size (I like my phones small and light), the camera (True Tone flash, 2.2/f aperture and 15% larger sensor) and Touch ID (definitely more secure than Android’s rather gimmicky face unlock).
| Apple iPhone 5S | Apple iPhone 5 | Samsung Galaxy S4 | |
| Size | 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6mm | 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6mm | 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm |
| Weight | 112 g | 112 g | 130 g |
| Network | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 |
| HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 | HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100 | |
| LTE | LTE | LTE | |
| Display | LED-backlit IPS TFT, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | LED-backlit IPS TFT, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | Super AMOLED HD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
| 640 x 1136 pixels, 4 inches (326 ppi) | 640 x 1136 pixels, 4 inches (326 ppi) | 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.0 inches (441 ppi) | |
| Processor | unspecified processor, unspecified GPU, Apple A7 chipset, 64-bit | unspecified processor, unspecified GPU, Apple A6 chipset | Quad-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7, PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU |
| RAM | unspecified | unspecified | 1/2 GB RAM |
| Internal Storage | 16/32/64 GB | 16/32/64 GB | 16/32/64 GB |
| External Storage | No External Memory | No External Memory | Up to 64GB |
| Data | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n dual-band | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n dual-band | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n dual-band |
| Bluetooth | v4.0 with A2DP | v4.0 with A2DP | v4.0 with A2DP |
| NFC | none | none | yes |
| Operating System | iOS 7 | iOS 6 | Android v4.2 Jelly Bean |
| Camera | 8 megapixel AF with True Tone dual-LED flash and f/2.2 aperture lens, 15-percent larger sensor, 10fps burst | 8 megapixel AF, f/2.4 aperture lens | 13 megapixel AF, f/2.2 aperture lens |
| Video | 1080p at 30fps, LED video light | 1080p at 30fps, LED video light | 1080p at 30fps, LED video light |
| Apps | About 900K from the Apple App Store | About 900K from the Apple App Store | About 1M from Google Play + access to non-market apps |
| Battery | Standard battery, Li-Po | Standard battery, Li-Po | Standard battery, Li-Ion 2600 mAh |
| Standby | Up to 270 h (3G) | Up to 225 h (3G) | Up to 370 h (3G) |
| Talk-time | Up to 10 h (3G) | Up to 8 h (3G) | Up to 117 h (3G) |
Michelle needed a computer for her research, and Jeanne iPad mini just doesn’t cut it. So we decided that I get her an early ;) Christmas present: A MacBook Air. It’s small and light, the perfect ultraportable. As expected, build quality of the aluminum unibody is excellent. It has a 1.3GHz dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of SSD storage. And most importantly for an ultraportable, it uses the Intel Haswell architecture which has been especially great in terms of battery life.
Apple has sent out invites to their much anticipated September 10 event. This should brighten everyone’s day. Well it, did make my day more colorful. And I expect September 10 to be colorful, too. The new iPhone 5S, the iPhone 5C as well as iOS 7, of course, is expected to be revealed. Based on rumors, I thinks the two will bring in many colors. The iPhone 5S will come in Black/Slate, White/Silver, and White/Gold. The iPhone 5C will come in even more colors: Black, White, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Pink, and Red. I guess C in 5C stands not only for China or Cheap but also Colorful!
Apple has released iOS 7 beta 6, less than a week after beta 5 which was delayed due to the developer site hacking. With this release, Apple is back on track on its release cycle. The main description of the release is that it fixes a major iTunes bug. I didn’t really encounter it. I couldn’t see any outward changes. In iTunes or elsewhere. Even the release notes is quite short. Looks like iOS 7 is almost good to go!